A new survey from Marqueta has revealed that 41 per cent of UK consumers are considering a switch to digital-only banking, with Millennials leading the way.

A Propeller survey of 2,027 banking customers across the UK, US, France, Germany and Spain, commissioned by the payment infrastructure platform, found a general belief that cash as form of currency is set to become obsolete within the next two decades.

Millennials had the most receptive attitude to digital banking overall, with those aged 23-38 more than three times more likely than a Baby Boomers (51-65 years old) to have completed a purchase using a mobile wallet – at 51 per cent of Millennials compared with 16 per cent of Baby Boomers.

Millennials were also almost twice as likely than a Baby Boomer to be comfortable using TouchID and FaceID to authorise a payment (52 per cent versus 29 per cent). They were also more than twice as likely than a Baby Boomer to pay someone back using a peer-to-peer banking service rather than cash or cheque (44 per cent vs 21 per cent).

A majority (55 per cent) of all respondents said that cash would disappear from use altogether, with 72 per cent of this group suggesting this could happen by 2039.

Significantly, UK consumers were more reluctant as a whole about the idea of changing to a bank operated by a major tech giant such as Facebook, Amazon or Google, with 37 per cent of respondents willing to consider switching their financial services to a big tech firm, versus 46 per cent of US respondents.

When it came to the most important benefits consumers are looking for in their banking apps, 27 per cent of UK respondents said they valued a user-friendly mobile app, with just nine per cent saying they would prioritise an in-person presence.

This puts the UK ahead of the US market, where just 21 per cent believe an easy-to-use mobile app is their best benefit, versus 15 per cent who prefer an in-person presence.

However, despite their conviction that a cashless society is on the horizon, 65 per cent of UK respondents said that they would have security concerns around this change.

Digital alternatives such as mobile wallets also sparked security concerns amongst 29 per cent of all of those surveyed, as the technology remains relatively untried for the majority of older users.

Overall, Millennials were five times more likely to be using mobile-based digital wallet Apple Pay (25 per cent vs 5 per cent) and four times more likely to use Google Pay (20 per cent vs 4 per cent) than a Baby Boomer.

Ian Johnson, Marqeta’s head of European growth, said: “Driven by younger generations, consumer preferences in the UK are rapidly evolving toward new payment touchpoints and digital banking tools as people are starting to engage with an increasingly mobile and always connected economy in entirely new ways.”

Share Story: